I trust the development gods are aware that we users are in dire need of our favourite editor to be able to import existing clients' websites; for maintenance, updates, a quick change etc. etc.

It has been quite a while since this was replied in answer to a request to give SS the ability to import html:

"It is on our list but it is more complicated to implement than you might expect because SiteSpinner is a web page creator not an HTML editor. That is, SiteSpinner can write out HTML etc. but to import it we have to teach it to read HTML, CSS, scripts etc. and understand them enough to convert them into our native format which is very different from HTML."

Recently there was some discussion around an Italian product, which, while apparently still in its infancy, imports html with relative ease and accuracy. So it is achievable.

So, ye gods, how are ye doing with teaching your baby to understand html?

Thank you.

quote:

an Italian product, which, while apparently still in its infancy, imports html with relative ease and accuracy

This wasn't my experience -- the accuracy was poor. I hope that SiteSpinner will be able to do a lot better than that

Because this is clearly a difficult undertaking, maybe it would be best to split it into phases:

Phase 1. Recreate a project file from a SiteSpinner-published site. This would be a useful feature, given that people lose their project files

Phase 2. Extend to sites created with other named tools -- e.g. Frontpage

Phase 3. Extend to all sites

Phase 3 is maybe never attainable, but I would be happy with being able to (accurately!) import about 80% of the sites out there.

Sounds like a good plan of action. However, you may have to bump those down a notch past 'Release Web Engine V2'.

I totally agree. I have tested out SiteSpinner & Coffeecup. I find SiteSpinner the easiest & most effective to use. However the fact that it cannot import Html made me go purchase Coffeecup instead.

There are 100's of websites that offer premium html templates. I've purchased a couple from Template Monster & so needed to import them to allow me to modify the templates to my liking. There are also 1000's of free sites where you can get html templates.

So I think if you did address this issue, then it would make Sitespinner the best html creation prog out there.

James (UK)..

I agree entirely.

In the above-mentioned "Italian product" I found that it did a poor job of importing HTML.

What is your experience with CoffeeCup when you actually try to import some real HTML?

I downloaded Coffeecup HTML Editor to try this out on a project created by Sitespinner- and it seems to work perfectly. There were no positioning issues and the code seems to translate exactly as it was created in SS.

Well, the ability to import a website, for maintenance or upgrading of an existing website, remains at the top of my wish-list for Sitespinner.

IT CAN BE DONE.

Well that's a promising sign -- how does it perform on sites not created with SS?

Yes, I'm lazy, I should try it out for myself

It pulls in any existing html without problems. It even has the option to "open from the web".

Coffeecup is a real beginners'editor - it has no graphics capabilities at all. You cannot create even a simple button in it.

But it can import html!! I sure hope this feature is implemented soon, because "I think if you did address this issue, then it would make Sitespinner the best html creation prog out there."

Create a site on Sitespinner which includes flash. Try creating a flash menu using Flashation or a banner with SWFText.

Save the site, then try & import it into Coffeecup & you'll get an error that it cannot be displayed in the visual editor.

The Flash object is not part of SS - it is a foreign object and SS only makes a pointer to the external object. In other words, the Flash object remains outside SS.
So obviously another editor would not be able to display it.

The point though, is that Coffeecup does import html and Sitespinner cannot.

My wish is that the next major release of SS will be able to import html - I would even be willing to pay for an update that can import html.

Rest assured that this is an important issue for us.

Well... maybe you should make a separate import utility that will take an html and turn it into an .ims file so that site spinner is not burdened with the complexity of learning html. It seems like that might be a better way to handle it. It has the added benifit of keeping sitespinner lean and less complex.

Agreed, this sounds like a good proposal.

quote:

Originally posted by Bruceee:

quote:

an Italian product, which, while apparently still in its infancy, imports html with relative ease and accuracy

This wasn't my experience -- the accuracy was poor. I hope that SiteSpinner will be able to do a lot better than that

Because this is clearly a difficult undertaking, maybe it would be best to split it into phases:

Phase 1. Recreate a project file from a SiteSpinner-published site. This would be a useful feature, given that people lose their project files

Phase 2. Extend to sites created with other named tools -- e.g. Frontpage

Phase 3. Extend to all sites

Phase 3 is maybe never attainable, but I would be happy with being able to (accurately!) import about 80% of the sites out there.

I have Contribute, originally from Flash, and that is an interesting product. Sometimes you need it to make a quick update. Especially if you use frames.

But if you error while updating a frame set, you can just throw your hands up and walk away. I have had this happen. I put hours into upgrading a frame set, only to have some kind of error kill all the changes.

I was actually amazed with the resilience of Site spinner and Web Engine. Even when my poor habits ran them into the ground, I was able to salvage what I did.

Three, is probably impossible. Especially with php, pearl, cgi, and .Net.


Sincerely,

William McCormick